Conservatives criticise government for blocking attempt to question Burnham

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake has criticised the government for blocking a move to keep the Commons sitting for an extra day before the summer recess so MPs can question Andy Burnham.

He told GB News: “What are they hiding from? This this must be the least scrutinised new prime minister of all time, and he seems to want to avoid any kind of questions on anything he believes, any of his policies, either from you, or from indeed Parliament itself. It’s got to be wrong.

“Nobody’s been able to ask him questions, to find out what he really thinks, what his policies are going to be on tax, for example, all those things. It’s disappointing, it’s an unprecedented move. Opposition day debates – they’re normally always at the discretion of the opposition, and nobody’s ever heard of one being cancelled before because the government didn’t like the nature of the debate or the title of the debate.

“It’s quite extraordinary. All we’re asking for is one extra day, one day to scrutinise the new prime minister, who nobody’s asked any questions about what his policies are going to be, whether he’ll work with us, for example, on cutting welfare so he can properly fund defence and cut taxes to get the economy growing again. Those kind of things.

“Those are the kind of questions we want to ask him. He should have those answers, and yet time and time again, whether it’s from press or whether it’s from Parliament, all he wants to do is try and avoid scrutiny.”

On the death of Ann Widdecombe, he said: “This is a terrible end to what was a very proud career of public service. Our thoughts are with all her family and friends. It is simply terrible. I mean, Ann Widdecombe, of course, was not a Member of Parliament, and I’ve got to say, in 11 years of being a Member of Parliament, I’ve never felt my life was under threat or there was any patent threat to myself at all or my family.

“But it’s very important that all MPs do feel safe and secure, and are provided with the necessary security, and that counts for Nigel Farage, Reform MPs, or MPs of any other political persuasion. As you know, of course, David Amess, one of my Conservative colleagues, lost his life in terrible circumstances, as did Jo Cox, a Labour MP.

“There are threats from time to time, and what I would say is we should all say as fellow parliamentarians, but also the media, that people go into politics for a life of public service, they do that to try and improve things for everybody, and people taking these kind of actions on the basis of some warped political belief is simply wrong.”

On Sir Keir Starmer’s legacy, he said: “I think history will judge him as a man who couldn’t lead his troops. The reality is he had a huge majority. He should have been able to get whatever legislation through he wanted, but every time he faced a challenge from his own backbenchers, he backed down.

“So I think he’ll be seen as a prime minister who didn’t quite know what he wanted to do, and then when he did decide what he wanted to do, he backed down time and time again. So I don’t think it will be a particularly good record he seems to have had in politics.

“But I’m going to say some of that is also reflected in Andy Burnham’s position. I think on a number of things he’s U-turned already, things like WASPI women, things like benefits for migrants, and things about whether we actually have due regard for the bond markets, which is just simply borrowing money, and he’s changed his position on those a number of times already.

“It’s very important that we elect a prime minister who knows exactly what they want to do. That was not the case with Keir Starmer. I fear it won’t be the case with Andy Burnham.”